Steel Dynasty - Chapter 712

[Chapter 711 The craze caused by steam engines]

The roar of steam engines and the smell of metal filled the military workshop.

After briefly explaining the purpose of coming here, Xiao Ming inspected the musket workshop and artillery workshop as usual.

In the musket workshop, he focused on the production of conical bullets. Each conical bullet was cast in a mold, and then polished and calibrated by the craftsmen.

The advantages of rifled guns are obvious, but the requirements for bullets are also strict. Unqualified conical bullets can cause disastrous consequences for soldiers.

Therefore, craftsmen will strictly check each batch of bullets after they are cast. After checking, the craftsmen will insert wooden supports into the holes behind the tapered bullets. This is also to ensure air tightness during shooting.

Xiao Ming said that each craftsman making three bullets a day is only a minimum prediction. After all, the current military workshops have mastered assembly line production.

Different craftsmen are responsible for different processes, casting, polishing, making wooden pallets, and assembling. These four sets of processes are performed by a thousand people.

After inspecting the gun workshop, he went to the artillery workshop. A long time ago, he asked Chen Qi to study rifled cannons.

After exploration, the artillery workshop has now successfully produced a rifled cannon. According to Chen Qi, the production speed of rifled cannons is slow, but the range is much longer than before. Now the cannon shells can be fired five miles away.

“Five miles?” Xiao Ming was slightly satisfied with this data. Five miles is 2,500 meters. This range should not be lost to Western artillery.

“Prioritize the provision of such naval guns to warships.” Xiao Ming ordered. The news from both the French and the British made Xiao Ming wary.

The internal troubles have not yet been resolved, and the foreign troubles are coming. Xiao Wenxuan really left him a huge mess. But fortunately, this place is too far from the west, and neither France nor the United Kingdom can deploy large-scale troops here.

Now they are just acting as troublemakers and making waves in East Asia. Now his main enemies are the barbarians, the Japanese country, Goryeo, and the King of Chu.

And this was exactly what Britain and France wanted to use to contain him, so with the cooperation of France and the King of Chu, Britain went to Japan.

Although Xiao Ming was angry at the petty actions of the two Western powers, there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. However, they would not always have the final say in this world.

When industry is popularized in the six states and people’s livelihood in the north is restored, this will be the time for him to show his sharp claws.

After inspecting the military workshop, Xiao Ming and Qian Dafu returned to Qingzhou City.

At the same time, under the auspices of Fiji and Pang Yukun, the six-state reform movement was also unfolding step by step.

…

At the entrance of the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce, Zhu Wuliu, like other businessmen, was waiting for Li Kaiyuan to come out.

News about the private workshops in newspapers had spread throughout the six states, and businessmen who wanted a piece of the pie immediately flocked there.

In the past two years, Zhu Wuliu made a lot of money from the white sugar workshop, and his family became richer. He not only bought a large house in Qingzhou City.

Not only him, there are also five wealthy families in Zhujiacun. These families were all the people who lent Zhu Wuliu silver when he built the white sugar workshop.

At that time, Zhu Wuliu promised to distribute the money to them based on the amount of money and profits. Because of this, they also became rich and envied many people.

“Brother Wuliu, there are so many people here today.” Behind Zhu Wuliu is a slightly shorter, lean young man. His name is Shangguan Yong, and he is also from Zhujia Village.

Zhu Wuliu looked at the long queue behind him. There were not one thousand but seven hundred businessmen coming to the Chamber of Commerce this time. He said: “This time it is dangerous. These businessmen are all well-off. We may not be able to compete with them. It is said that the number of steam engines is limited. “

Shangguanyong is even more anxious than Zhu Wuliu. Last time, many people in the village were not involved in the white sugar workshop. This time, Zhu Wuliu is planning to set up a workshop again, and everyone is involved. I gave the money to Zhu Wuliu, just to get a share of the workshop this time.

Touching his chest, Shangguan Yong confirmed whether the banknote exchanged at Qingzhou Bank was still there. The silver he had on him was the savings of the entire village. If it were lost, he would not be able to replace it even if he sold himself.

“Brother No. 56, if it really doesn’t work, go find Brother No. 3 and No. 4. I heard that Brother No. 3 and No. 4 has been transferred back from Ryukyu and has been promoted to captain. If you ask him to make connections, the steam engine will be more stable this time. Are you ready?” Shangguan Yong said hehe.

Zhu Wuliu’s face darkened when he heard this, and he said: “Second brother is a member of the army and cannot participate in business. If he is found out, he will be kicked out of the army. If you ask me to find him, you are harming him. My business Whether you can do it or not, the second brother cannot take off his military uniform. This is an honor for our old Zhu family. “

Shangguan Yong laughed twice: “Aren’t I anxious? In fact, if I hadn’t broken my leg when I was a child, I would have wanted to be a soldier now. You see how majestic the soldiers are today. Not to mention the government offices sending rice and noodles at the end of each year. It is said that soldiers now have priority in many things. Even buying things at the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce stores only costs half the money.

“Of course. If no one was willing to be a soldier before, now it’s better to break their heads and become a soldier one by one.

“

“Zhu Wuliu was a little envious as he spoke.

It is said that the war in the past two years has made many soldiers rich. They can get rewards after each battle, which makes many armies scramble to fight.

And in the village The returning soldiers gave the family dozens of taels of silver at a time, which also confirmed this rumor.

While the two were stunned, Li Kaiyuan suddenly appeared at the door of the chamber of commerce. He glanced at the waiting businessman and frowned,

“This time the steam engine is for sale .

There are one hundred units in total, but it is said to be a steam engine, but it is actually a complete set of steam engine production lines. In other words, this is a hundred sets of production lines. For the sake of fairness, the auction method for selling the production lines this time is the highest bidder. You can enter the venue now. get ready. “

Li Kaiyuan finished speaking and made a “please” gesture, and businessmen immediately poured into the chamber of commerce’s auction venue.

Li Kaiyuan showed a hint of helplessness as the anxious businessmen passed by. In the past two days, he had been quarreling with Lin Wentao a lot over the past two days about the one hundred production lines.

For him, the more steam engines the better, but Lin Wentao put him off on the grounds that he had to sell the money to continue manufacturing.

He only got these one hundred sets of steam engines from the steam engine workshop, and now he was really short of money.

Soon, the auction hall was filled with excited businessmen.

Before coming, the government opened government-run workshops such as imitation workshops and white sugar workshops to them. The role of steam engines in these workshops impressed them with admiration.

The profit-seeking businessmen immediately saw the value contained in it, which led to today’s scene.

PS: There is one more chapter

(end of this chapter)